Teacher rang regarding home learning

[OntheWaves40]

DS (14) teacher rang, didn’t speak to me just to DS. I could hear conversation and it was along lines of, you should be sticking to school schedule, you need to finish my subject for last week even if it takes you to 5pm.
DS was working yesterday until 8pm as he was every day last week. We don’t get enough down time. He watched one film last week for 2 hours.
DS was apologetic and said he’d get straight to it. I wish DS would have explained to teacher he was working flat out but DS isn’t confident enough to.
AIBU to think this teacher is wrong to call at home to push pressure on DS?

Surely kids get told to pull their socks up by teachers all the time? Teachers have to talk to their students.

Surely the most sensible thing to do is ring the teacher and ask what the specific problem is. It seems odd your son is already behind - particularly given the hours he seems to be working. Was there a problem before lockdown- was he already struggling?

He is 14 so not a small child - he should be able to have a conversation with a teacher.

@FamilyOfAliens. No, OP is probably not in my country. I'm just trying to highlight that I'm finding the pressure on many of the parents and children I'm seeing on these threads seems out-of-proportion when you compare it to similar countries.

Right now, all children and parents are stressed. Is it really the time to be following a rock solid curriculum? Surely whatever the OPs son is able to do at this time is a good effort? I'm WFH and my productivity isn't great right now because i'm stressed, perhaps it's the same for many of the kids?

Sorry if this isn't helpful, but having seen many of my friends freaking out in the UK about trying to keep going with their kids schooling at home, they found it reassuring that people in similar situations around the world are being given a little more leeway.

OP, it sounds like you're concerned about extra pressure on your DS. I hope you can find a balance.

I wonder if actually giving him smaller chunks of time is better than letting him work from 10:30-8pm. I certainly couldn't concentrate for that long. It is very hard to motivate yourself when you're on your own too. I'm sure there's plenty of time for faffing, day dreaming, getting up/down etc

We're having issues at home because the youngest sibling is very distracting and DD isn't settling down to concentrate like she would in class. She's taking at least twice as long to do anything simply by being at home and not in an ideal environment. I'm actually considering noise cancelling headphones for her.

It's obviously no-one's fault. I would contact the school and explain. Plus, look very closely at what your DS is actually achieving in the time. I can absolutely look like I'm working while also achieving very little

If I were you I would ring school and outline the time it's taking your son. I have zero idea how much or little time the tasks I am setting are taking. If you can call up and explain, I'm sure that would be really usef.

Reading our secondary school fb page last week, there were a lot of problems with some teachers setting unrealistic amounts of work. Some weren’t setting any, and some it seemed had it about right.

It’s very difficult for teachers to adjust to this way of working and get it right all the time. Several parents politely contacted the school and the head sent an email out to every student apologising for any teething problems and asking students to email teachers if they were struggling with either the amount or content of work.

If your ds is getting so much work you need to let the teachers know he’s not keeping up and ask for their advice. He may take longer than some students, or they may be setting unrealistic amounts, please don’t let him get stressed over this, it’s stressful enough at the moment. Contact the head of year or individual teachers and tell them he’s struggling.

Teachers are often getting directed to chase pupils by the heads

I’m impressed that a teacher took the time to do this. In an average large state school each teacher will probably have in excess of 150 students in their classes. For someone to take the trouble to phone individual students in those circumstances is remarkable. One of mine is a teacher, at her school it is the form tutor who makes the calls but they are not just to chase up work, more of a welfare call - how are you coping, any problems, are you getting your work done. She s in a rota to be in school 2 days a week so the other three days she does 9 or 10 calls then gets on with setting work, answering queries about work she has set or marking.

At my school (secondary) we are going to start phoning home about work not being done after Easter. We are actually told to try to speak directly to the child, because this will help us to spot any safeguarding concerns (this will be policy for all children, not just those who we already know are vulnerable). There are some children we have heard nothing from since schools closed, so we do need to check that they are ok!

If your son didn't feel able to explain he is struggling, then you need to contact the teacher to explain- I am sure they would be sympathetic if he said he was trying his best but not able to get all work finished. However, his teacher isn't psychic so can't know there is a problem unless someone tells her! Again, if he is struggling emotionally right now, I am sure teachers would cut him some slack, but they do need to be told!

As your son is 14, I would guess he is in Y9/10 and probably working on GCSE content in many subjects. There won't be time next year (especially if he is in Y10) for all of this to be retaught, and to still finish the course on time, so if he is struggling to work at home, then you/him/the teacher need to be able to find a solution to this!

Just to add I think she talks to parent if possible but with secondary sometimes parents aren't around.

The teachers will be getting nagged by SLT to contact all students who arent sending work. Trust me we dont want to ring students all day...especially when we have our own children running around at home

I think it's good that teachers are bothering to phone pupils and make sure they're working. I wish my DD's teachers would do that. It might make her actually stop watching the television. It's hard to motivate her myself.

I think you might be overestimating how much constructive time he is actually working, which is very easy to do. Joe Wicks is half an hour so not sure why he’s not managing to do any school work before 10.30, especially with no commute.

Try taking a closer look at how the whole day flows as well. Maybe try and get one lesson in before JW so that is more of a break? And he doesn’t need an hour after before starting work again. Also remember there should be school and homework time allowed for if they really are trying to replicate the same level of work. Does he have a long break late afternoon/tea time?

I honestly can’t remember ever getting much family time during the week by the time I got to GCSE years. It probably feels weird because you are all at home but how much free time does he usually have in the week?

Yes he has. We did Joe Wicks every morning so he started at 10:30am ish and worked through until 8pm with bits of time in between for meals or half hour exercise. But def not enough family time to relax and get heads round new situation.

Get him to start at the normal time. My teen starts at 9am (his choice) and then works through until 2pm non-stop and has lunch afterwards. He doesn't do any work after about 2pm as he's got it done by then.

Sorry, for some reason I thought you said YR10 but appreciate a 14 year old may only be YR9. I still think there is a fair amount of day and home work by that stage.

You must let the school know he is struggling. Ours sent out an apology last week after some classes/year groups had been getting too much. This is new for everyone!

At 14, not 4 - in this situation, I see absolutely nothing wrong with it. No different than if he was at school. If he can’t speak to the teacher about what he has been doing that’s something you need to wirk on with him! Maybe he can send the teacher an email Outlining what he has been doing?

Think this is everything wrong with the Uk education system. This is an unsettling time for children and adults, trying to make them stick to the same as a school day, when so much of the school day is wasted anyway, sticking to a rigid curriculum, pressuring children when there is simply no reason to do that right now, I won't be making mine sit and do 5 hours of worksheet/watch boring videos online stuff whatsoever. This is their chance to destress from how awful school normally is! Both are working, but in concentrated spurts. It's now the Easter holidays.

Honestly, I don't call my uni students and berate them for having difficulties with work right now! I accept this is a difficult stressful time and support them to do as much as they can.

There's just nothing good about the UK education system in terms of mental health for children, it's utterly broken if people think the right thing to do is to harass children to complete a set amount of work every day and week in the middle of a huge pandemic.

@Nearlyalmost50.
I think this was the point I was trying to make.
I now live in Canada, so similar to UK, and we've been told to prioritize our kids mental health at this time. The new educational website just put up is all about optional education, but no compulsion. That's why I've stuck my beak into this thread, because sometimes it's good to have it pointed out you're stuck in a situation that isn't necessarily a good one.

I'm just trying to highlight that I'm finding the pressure on many of the parents and children I'm seeing on these threads seems out-of-proportion when you compare it to similar countries.

Which similar countries are they? I thought you were just comparing it to wherever you are. Or are you imagining the problem?

@Nearlyalmost50

It's not the Easter holidays in many local authorities for another week. And if the child is a GCSE student, then, unfortunately, they can't afford to waste what may end up being 5 months of learning.

And if anything home learning should take less time than a school day, as there's less time wasted on asking little Timmy to stop talking and face the front. I'm certainly not expecting my students to work a full day with the same number of hours, but I AM expecting them to do something!

@Nearlyalmost50

Couldn't disagree more. At a time like this children need routine and normality more than ever. If you're a university teacher you will be used to speculating and pontificating all day. That isn't what school is about. The teacher is taking a practical step to see how her pupils are getting on. And she may have been asked to do so by her manager. I'm surprised someone whose job it is to see a situation from different perspectives isn't able to apply this to the OP.

Can you please explain how the teacher is damaging the boy's mental health? I can't for the life of me understand how you arrived at this interpretation.

And it goes without saying that you've never been a school teacher yourself.

@FamilyOfAliens.
I'm in Canada.

We did Joe Wicks every morning so he started at 10:30am ish and worked through until 8pm with bits of time in between for meals or half hour exercise.

My DD (who is also 14) is trying to keep to the school timetable, so she starts at 8.30, has breaks when she has scheduled break times (only an hour in total in the school day) and finishes at 3. She then has about 1-1.5 hours "homework" which is stuff she hasn't finished. That pretty much mimics a "normal" school day so seems reasonable. I'd ask your DC to actually properly quantify how much time he is spending on breaks/meals/exercise/generally starting into space/being on social media. I'm thinking his day in terms of hours worked may not be vastly different to my DD's.

@Nearlyalmost50 it's not Easter holidays for most schools until Friday.

OP I agree with those who say that the teacher needs to know he is struggling. But it needs to come from your son and not you. Asking for help is an essential life skill and he is now old enough to do it for himself.

Before that, you need to have an honest conversation about how much work he is doing, and how much of his time is spent faffing on the internet. If he is really trying and can't do it then yes he should ask for help.